Gossip

 Dogs are worldwide and other news

Sunday lunch in the garden 

This past weekend we went to Macaneta, a beach community about an hour south of Maputo, to visit a colleague/friend of Sierra's from the hospital.  As you may remember I am still a cripple - hobbling around on crutches with a boot.  So, upon arrival Sierra and the husband of our hostess, Leonardo (he is Italian with the most amazing blue eyes), negotiated with the local police - after paying a bribe - to allow Sierra to drive on the sand to the tent where they were set up.  Note to the wise:  One needs shade here because the sun is hotter than stink so sun tents are a blessing. Imagine multi coloured (yellow, pink, blue, fuchsia) light sun tents spaced out along the beach. It is magical. 

Well, sand driving is not for the faint of heart.   We got help taking air out of the tires and using the 4x4 low gear off Sierra drove to get me to the beach.  It was something I would or could not do but Sierra is fearless. And so I got to hang out on the sand by the incredible Indian Ocean and watch Khi body surf (I taught him to do it last summer and now he is a pro) and others swim out beyond the surf and float around.  While I would have loved to swim I was so happy just being there I wasn't too jealous.  It was glorious.

Once out of the surf, and girls being girls, Sierra and her friend started sharing news. Firstly, I learned that the word for "DOG" is pronounced "COW" which is appropriate given the story that emerged.  After talking about work her friend asked her if she had met anyone of interest (this is a topic of conversation for all of Sierra's pals) and Sierra started to give her the low down. One character stood out:  I can't remember his name but he is a player here in Maputo and owns a resort out of town and restaurant.  As the story goes, he asked Sierra out and she did a research check on him with her long time friend Elie who has lived here for 10 years or so.  He got a failing grade but he pursued until he got the message she wasn't interested after many attempts on his part.

Sierra's friend gave us an update on this dog (cow). Turns out for the past year or so he has been living with the Minister of Justice (female) and they adopted a child.  For how long they have been together I don't know.  But dogs being dogs he also started an affair with a high profile Mozambique journalist.  The Minister of Justice found out about this, confronted the interloper and the encounter turned into a fist fight which apparently the Minister recorded.  As the story goes the Minister inadvertently posted the video  to the Whats App group for Frelimo (the ruling party since the country's first multi-party election in 1994) so the entire ruling elite and by now everybody else who has prurient interest in this love triangle also has seen the video.  How the Minister could have done that is curious and one can only imagine, but this is the talk of the town. 

The story is funny - human foibles - but I can only imagine embarrassing.  Of course I asked what about the consequences.  We were informed that this type of interaction is not career threatening (as it would be in Canada) and apparently it is not uncommon for Mozambican men to have affairs and even have children from these relationships... Not sure about how common it is for women to have fistacuffs but this is not Kansas Dorothy! 

And so a lazy Sunday at the beach gave me laughs and smiles along with Leonardo (who owns three Italian restaurants in town) cooking us an all afternoon meal that included, crab, pasta with seafood, salad, BBQ pork (which Sierra and Khi didn't eat), several bottles of very cold and delicious Italian white wine, fruit and my mother's Apple Cake. It was served to us in their garden - see above photo - with monkeys playing in the bushes.  We returned home satiated with food, drink and delicious gossip worthy of an international tale.